Mycorrhizal hyphae

E. J. Joner and 1. Jakobsen, Growth and extracellular phosphatase activity of arbus-cular mycorrhizal hyphae as influenced by soil organic matter. Soil Biol. Bioehem. 27 1153 (1995). 

Caris, C., Hordt, W., Hawkins, H. J., Romheld, V. George, E. (1998). Studies of iron transport by arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphae from soil to peanut and sorghum plants. Mycorrhiza, 8, 35-9. 

Fig. 4.4. Lucifer yellow carbohydrazide dye indicating water flow applied to a deep-root chamber, and detected in mycorrhizal hyphae in a hyphal chamber after crossing airgaps that restrict diffusion. Panel A is an AM hypha that transported the dye during the night (hydraulic lift). Panel B shows a mycorrhizal fungus hydrophilic tip, with hydraulically lifted water exuding out the tip onto a piece of organic detritus. Photographs by Louise Egerton-Warburton and details of the experiment can be found in Querejeta et al. (2003).

Mycorrhizas are critical to plant survival and production in arid soils. Hyphae transport water in both directions. Water from patches of moist soils to the plant is provided by fungal hyphae and rhizomorphs that explore large volumes of soil ranging outward from the canopy edge. Mycorrhizal hyphae even extend from deep roots into the bedrock to access sources of water that cannot be reached or transported in the time scales necessary to be important to plant water balance. Mycorrhizal hyphae also benefit from hydraulically lifted water from plants that have deep root systems that reach groundwater or perched water tables. 

Egerton-Warburton, L. M., Graham, R. C. Hubbert, K. R. (2003). Spatial variability in mycorrhizal hyphae and nutrient and water availability in a soil-weathered bedrock profile. Plant and Soil, 249, 331 2. 

Joner, E.J., van Aarle, I.M. and Vosatka, M. (2000) Phosphatase activity of extra-radical arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphae a review. Plant and Soil 226, 199-210. 

Fig 6.8. Mycorrhizal hyphae etching tunnels in granite. Top image showing many hyphae growing ofver the surface and bottom image a close up of the hyphae penetrating into the rock. 

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